Google Maps, in their most recent update, has rolled out a feature that now shows location and information on EV Charging Stations in your area. This feature comes as a huge relief to all those Electric Vehicle owners who wish to take their cars out for long road trips.

One of the main concerns of any electric vehicle owner in taking out their cars for a long ride is the availability of EV Chargers along their course, given the fact that EV Charging Stations are not as common as Petrol pumps, at least for now.

Unless you are a Tesla owner, it is really difficult to keep track of the number and location of EV Chargers along your chosen route. Tesla users obviously have the ‘Tesla Trip Planner’ to make long distance travel easy and efficient.

This very common and widespread concern is what Google plans to take out with its newest update to the Google Map. With the EV information now being available on the map, anyone can take their electric cars out without the fear of running out of charge.

Apart from showing the number and location of EV Chargers in a particular area, Google Maps will also display other prominent information such as the Number and types of ports available, reviews, questions, and photos from other drivers who may have used the same EV Charger. Having all these parameters along with the list of the charging points smoothens out the process of decision making as to which charging station you need to choose.

To cite an example, searching for ‘EV charger stations in Ohio’ yields around 20 results. The results included Tesla Supercharger, EVgo, ChargePoint, and Blink Charging Stations.

Google was also seen as giving the information on the EV Charger companies by region. All Tesla and ChargePoint charging stations will have a global presence in the google map. That comes with no doubt since these two brands are indeed one of the most frequently used charging stations in the US and outside alike.

Apart from Tesla and ChargePoint, US maps will show Evgo, SemaConnect, and Blink whereas UK maps will have Chargemaster and Pod Point charging stations. Australia and NZ will only have Chargefox charging station information in their maps.

Google Map’s latest feature to display EV Charging Stations is not entirely a new concept. Tesla already has a similar feature for its users called the Tesla Trip Planner. However, it is important to note that both Tesla Trip Planner and Google Maps EV Charging Points feature have a lot of differences when it comes to use cases.

A Tesla Trip Planner showing the number of superchargers between Ohio and San Diego | Source – Tesla

For starters, Tesla Trip Planner shows only the Tesla Supercharger Stations between a particular source and destination, restricting its use mostly to Tesla owners. The car models which you plan to use on the trip also become inputs. Google Maps, on the other hand, shows charging stations from multiple brands in any particular area of your choice.

Yet another difference is that, in the Tesla Trip Planner, for a particular route, the user gets to see an approximation of the dollar savings for covering that distance in a Tesla against the case when the distance was traveled in a gasoline-powered car. Currently, such a feature is not present in Google Maps (it would be nice to have though). Tesla Trip Planner also shows the approximate charging duration required at each of the supercharger stations.

Our thoughts on Google Map’s New Feature

We are keen on the belief that this newest update on Google Maps to feature EV Charging Station details is going to be super impactful. This feature will enable almost all of the electric car owners to plan their journeys well in advance. Now that they know the list of charging stations throughout their route, they can accordingly plan their rest stops synonymously with their charging schedule.

It is an undebated fact that Electrification is going to create a revolution in the Automobile Industry. When that happens, we are sure that this particular Google Map feature that puts EV Charging Point information at your fingertips is going to be one of the most preferred and widely used utility.